If I were to bet, you are the first person to ever string together these exact words in this exact order.
American Prairie Reserve - Nothing new
- Thread starter Gila
- Start date
If I were to bet, you are the first person to ever string together these exact words in this exact order.
Straight Arrow
Well-known member
You are "schooling" Craig Miller?!!! What a joke! You have no clue.
Straight Arrow
Well-known member
No but you asserted that TNC did not allow hunting. "I was referring to the Nature Conservancy lands." Your words regarding a clarification of who did not allow hunting.
With Big Fin's explanation, the least you could do is concede that both TNC and AP allow public access and hunting.
Your adamant perspective is admirable though falsely based ... but your integrity comes to question quickly and clearly.
Gila
Well-known member
This is a pipe dream!
NY TIMES
“Outdoors people, big landowners, travel operators and conservationists are now returning much of the Great Plains to its wild state, to a kind of American steppe. Conservationists are reviving native fauna and flora, and wolf populations are returning to the Yellowstone area. In the future, many hope, one giant fenceless region might be created across the entire plains that cover much of central North America east of the Rockies south to West Texas and New Mexico.
The idea of rewilding the West takes its inspiration from two professors, Frank and Deborah Popper. In an essay written two decades ago in the journal Planning, they suggested restoring the Upper Midwest to its native state, which they called the Buffalo Commons, and largely replacing agriculture in the region with eco-tourism.”
NY TIMES
“Outdoors people, big landowners, travel operators and conservationists are now returning much of the Great Plains to its wild state, to a kind of American steppe. Conservationists are reviving native fauna and flora, and wolf populations are returning to the Yellowstone area. In the future, many hope, one giant fenceless region might be created across the entire plains that cover much of central North America east of the Rockies south to West Texas and New Mexico.
The idea of rewilding the West takes its inspiration from two professors, Frank and Deborah Popper. In an essay written two decades ago in the journal Planning, they suggested restoring the Upper Midwest to its native state, which they called the Buffalo Commons, and largely replacing agriculture in the region with eco-tourism.”
BuzzH
Well-known member
Glutton for punishment.
It's odd you don't seem to understand how badly you embarrass yourself.
Gila
Well-known member
In your last 50 or so posts.....you have contributed less than zero to either thread.
Gerald Martin
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2009
- Messages
- 8,643
Buffalo Commons only as far as the Upper Midwest? Seems like they aren’t going nearly far enough if they don’t bring bison, wolves and prairie dogs back from sea to shining sea. I am disappointed that AP hasn’t been able to expand on that initial inspiration of nearly twenty years ago.
If your distaste for AP stems from a belief that they are harming ranchers and farmers in North Central MT, why not address the serious issues that really do threaten farming and ranching in that region?
Drought, economic conditions of high costs/low yields, farming in areas with marginal economic potential seems like a good starting point for a serious conversation if you are actually concerned about MT ranchers.
Real people are seeing a change in their lifestyle. AP offering willing sellers a fair price and changing the way the land is being utilized is not the reason ranchers are struggling.
If your distaste for AP stems from a belief that they are harming ranchers and farmers in North Central MT, why not address the serious issues that really do threaten farming and ranching in that region?
Drought, economic conditions of high costs/low yields, farming in areas with marginal economic potential seems like a good starting point for a serious conversation if you are actually concerned about MT ranchers.
Real people are seeing a change in their lifestyle. AP offering willing sellers a fair price and changing the way the land is being utilized is not the reason ranchers are struggling.
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Gila
Well-known member
NYTIMES
”Taking advantage of the animal repopulation, Upper Midwest outfitters are designing extended wildlife safaris. Twice a year, the American Prairie Foundation runs safaris across the land it has preserved, trips that at times include private plane flights across the open land. In the future, predicts Sean Garrity, the foundation’s president, Off the Beaten Path will run these safaris, and many local aviation outfits will begin prairie flights.”
”Taking advantage of the animal repopulation, Upper Midwest outfitters are designing extended wildlife safaris. Twice a year, the American Prairie Foundation runs safaris across the land it has preserved, trips that at times include private plane flights across the open land. In the future, predicts Sean Garrity, the foundation’s president, Off the Beaten Path will run these safaris, and many local aviation outfits will begin prairie flights.”
BuzzH
Well-known member
Hang some pixels of all your hunting time in the breaks. Post up some stories about personal conversations you've had with AP staff.
Post up a single fact...for that matter.
BTW, how far did you get with rinellas podcast with APR?
You've been led to water...you're welcome in advance.
BuzzH
Well-known member
Gila....if you dare:
www.freshtracks.tv
Bison Ruining a Way of Life? American Prairie vs UPOM | FT Weekly (Ep. 23) - Fresh Tracks Weekly - Fresh Tracks+
Email us [email protected] RMEF Films Minam Project https://youtu.be/ADMmzy9bpSM Another busy week for the Fresh Tracks crew as we gear up for the upcoming season. Michael has been getting some incredible dry fly action fishing the last couple weeks and fills us in over at the fishing corn...
www.freshtracks.tv
PaulRevere
Well-known member
Gila
Well-known member
“In addition to being nocturnal, Black-Footed Ferrets are fossorial, meaning that they live underground. Ferrets live in abandoned prairie dog burrows to maximize their proximity to food sources, raise their young, and escape harsh weather and predators. Their choice of home is a double-edged sword: prairie dogs are plentiful and food is never far, but the human activities and diseases which can decimate prairie dogs can also decimate Black-Footed Ferrets.”
Although the hundreds of living ferrets today is an improvement upon near-extinction, the Black-Footed Ferret is still an IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) endangered animal and is one of the most endangered animals in North America. The species is still at risk from disease, loss of habitat, and related declines in prey.”
My wife and I grew up there and we owned a ranch there so how could we possibly know anything?
Although the hundreds of living ferrets today is an improvement upon near-extinction, the Black-Footed Ferret is still an IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) endangered animal and is one of the most endangered animals in North America. The species is still at risk from disease, loss of habitat, and related declines in prey.”
My wife and I grew up there and we owned a ranch there so how could we possibly know anything?
PaulRevere
Well-known member
BuzzH
Well-known member
How many acres was this supposed "ranch" you owned? How many ferrets lived on your "ranch"?“In addition to being nocturnal, Black-Footed Ferrets are fossorial, meaning that they live underground. Ferrets live in abandoned prairie dog burrows to maximize their proximity to food sources, raise their young, and escape harsh weather and predators. Their choice of home is a double-edged sword: prairie dogs are plentiful and food is never far, but the human activities and diseases which can decimate prairie dogs can also decimate Black-Footed Ferrets.”
Although the hundreds of living ferrets today is an improvement upon near-extinction, the Black-Footed Ferret is still an IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) endangered animal and is one of the most endangered animals in North America. The species is still at risk from disease, loss of habitat, and related declines in prey.”
My wife and I grew up there and we owned a ranch there so how could we possibly know anything?
Gila
Well-known member
My wife wrote this article. She is an award winning Journalist, or was as we sold our property in South Dakota and retired to New Mexico.
HEALiNG THE LAKOTA PRAIRIE
HAYES, S.D. - Some people don't believe that one person can make a difference, but on a remote South Dakota ranch one man has done just that. Almost 50 years have gone by since South Dakota Lakota rancher Clarence Mortenson started his journey toward reclaiming the prairie his ancestors had once lived upon to its original beauty and diverse plant life. Stories he remembered from his Lakota grandmother and tribal elders, teamed with those from an old homesteader, made the young man realize that it had taken only one generation of homesteaders to almost completely obliterate what had been a vital and strong ecosystem; one, which had sustained the Lakota, people for hundreds of years.
When Mortenson bought his ranch land as a young man, the price was $8 an acre. The original 900 acres he bought were adjacent to the Cheyenne River and bordered the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. A member of the tribe, Mortenson had grown up on old stories about how his ancestors had lived upon the very land he now owned. But the stories described a land almost mythical in comparison to the land he lived on. But in the beginning the struggle for fulfilling a vision of the past and making his ranch a success was all staked on those 900 acres.
To make matters even worse, some of the original land he purchased was lost when the project to dam the Missouri River began. But as Mortenson began to reclaim the prairie, the prairie began to take back the land that had once been underwater. Cattle now cross where sportsmen once drove their boats with powerful engines to fish. New stands of willow trees and hardwoods can be seen as the land reclaims itself and the centuries old river channels begin to reappear.
But in the beginning all Mortenson knew was that nowhere were there springs every mile, or hardwood trees or trees at all to speak of in the draws. There were no plants with beautiful flowers on them, only endless miles of sparse grass. The streams weren't the ones an old homesteader had told him about, where wagon teams used to cross that had water belly deep on the horses. Only one generation had passed and none of it existed except in the memories of the elders. Now even most of the wildlife was gone.
But the words of his "Grandma Pete" kept echoing in the young rancher's mind, and the calling of an old cottonwood tree that had withstood the test of time and nature. Once the tallest tree for miles around, the "Spirit Tree", had been hit so many times by lightening that little remained of it. But today it, like the prairie that surrounds it, still hangs on and the voices of those ancestors who have guided Mortenson can be heard as the wind rustles through the leaves.
The tree itself has taken on an almost human form over the years. Bark broken off in the constant lightning strikes now resembles faces and long-dead branches appear to reach out to those who drive by it. For the Mortenson family the tree has come to symbolize the heart of the ranch, one of survival and the promise of a return to the greatness of the past.
Today Mortenson looks back and says he really doesn't know how or why reclaiming the prairie became his life's work, but he does credit the spirits of ancestors who once traveled upon it. "This place is very spiritual," he said. "You can walk out there and feel the power of your ancestors."
His dream to return the prairie to its natural state is becoming a reality. Although the full restoration will take at least another 100 years, huge changes in the original landscape can be seen. Once empty draws are now filled with life. Species of plants once thought to be near extinction are now thriving and each year marks the arrival of a larger and stronger area of growth for the various plants.
There is the series of small dams Mortenson built with gravel bottoms that serve to take the unpredictable rains and moisture from snowfall and let it filter back into the water table. This has enabled the springs to refill, which in turn has provided life-giving water to the new plant life that is emerging.
Since those early beginnings, the size of the ranch has doubled and the family has added several thousand acres of leased land as well to the ranch. Cattle are rotated from pasture to pasture to prevent over grazing, imitating the movement of the vast herds of buffalo that once traveled through the land. Horses are still for most of the work on the ranch, something the family is very proud of.
The use of the Lakota Circle of Life has brought about changes in traditional ranching methods. Cattle now can go to the tree-filled draws for shelter, calves are born in a natural valley, protected by the trees that have grown, cutting mortality rates even in the harshest of the South Dakota winter storms. By letting the prairie heal and come back to its natural diversity, the Mortenson Ranch no longer has to use chemicals on the land or pesticides for the cattle. No area is grazed long enough for damage to the land to take place. Even manure disappears thanks to the dung beetles that take it back into the earth. Everything is returning to its natural balance.
As his dream of restoring the prairie began to take shape, Mortenson soon found that others were beginning to sit up and take notice. Suddenly biologists were finding themselves learning from the example of the isolated Lakota rancher. Documentaries have been done on the Mortenson Ranch Restoration, biologists and other experts now come to the ranch to study, observe and learn. Mortenson has received numerous honors and awards for his work and in 2003 he was even bestowed with an Honorary Doctorate Degree from South Dakota State University.
(Continued in Part Two)”
ARCHIVED
HEALiNG THE LAKOTA PRAIRIE
HAYES, S.D. - Some people don't believe that one person can make a difference, but on a remote South Dakota ranch one man has done just that. Almost 50 years have gone by since South Dakota Lakota rancher Clarence Mortenson started his journey toward reclaiming the prairie his ancestors had once lived upon to its original beauty and diverse plant life. Stories he remembered from his Lakota grandmother and tribal elders, teamed with those from an old homesteader, made the young man realize that it had taken only one generation of homesteaders to almost completely obliterate what had been a vital and strong ecosystem; one, which had sustained the Lakota, people for hundreds of years.
When Mortenson bought his ranch land as a young man, the price was $8 an acre. The original 900 acres he bought were adjacent to the Cheyenne River and bordered the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. A member of the tribe, Mortenson had grown up on old stories about how his ancestors had lived upon the very land he now owned. But the stories described a land almost mythical in comparison to the land he lived on. But in the beginning the struggle for fulfilling a vision of the past and making his ranch a success was all staked on those 900 acres.
To make matters even worse, some of the original land he purchased was lost when the project to dam the Missouri River began. But as Mortenson began to reclaim the prairie, the prairie began to take back the land that had once been underwater. Cattle now cross where sportsmen once drove their boats with powerful engines to fish. New stands of willow trees and hardwoods can be seen as the land reclaims itself and the centuries old river channels begin to reappear.
But in the beginning all Mortenson knew was that nowhere were there springs every mile, or hardwood trees or trees at all to speak of in the draws. There were no plants with beautiful flowers on them, only endless miles of sparse grass. The streams weren't the ones an old homesteader had told him about, where wagon teams used to cross that had water belly deep on the horses. Only one generation had passed and none of it existed except in the memories of the elders. Now even most of the wildlife was gone.
But the words of his "Grandma Pete" kept echoing in the young rancher's mind, and the calling of an old cottonwood tree that had withstood the test of time and nature. Once the tallest tree for miles around, the "Spirit Tree", had been hit so many times by lightening that little remained of it. But today it, like the prairie that surrounds it, still hangs on and the voices of those ancestors who have guided Mortenson can be heard as the wind rustles through the leaves.
The tree itself has taken on an almost human form over the years. Bark broken off in the constant lightning strikes now resembles faces and long-dead branches appear to reach out to those who drive by it. For the Mortenson family the tree has come to symbolize the heart of the ranch, one of survival and the promise of a return to the greatness of the past.
Today Mortenson looks back and says he really doesn't know how or why reclaiming the prairie became his life's work, but he does credit the spirits of ancestors who once traveled upon it. "This place is very spiritual," he said. "You can walk out there and feel the power of your ancestors."
His dream to return the prairie to its natural state is becoming a reality. Although the full restoration will take at least another 100 years, huge changes in the original landscape can be seen. Once empty draws are now filled with life. Species of plants once thought to be near extinction are now thriving and each year marks the arrival of a larger and stronger area of growth for the various plants.
There is the series of small dams Mortenson built with gravel bottoms that serve to take the unpredictable rains and moisture from snowfall and let it filter back into the water table. This has enabled the springs to refill, which in turn has provided life-giving water to the new plant life that is emerging.
Since those early beginnings, the size of the ranch has doubled and the family has added several thousand acres of leased land as well to the ranch. Cattle are rotated from pasture to pasture to prevent over grazing, imitating the movement of the vast herds of buffalo that once traveled through the land. Horses are still for most of the work on the ranch, something the family is very proud of.
The use of the Lakota Circle of Life has brought about changes in traditional ranching methods. Cattle now can go to the tree-filled draws for shelter, calves are born in a natural valley, protected by the trees that have grown, cutting mortality rates even in the harshest of the South Dakota winter storms. By letting the prairie heal and come back to its natural diversity, the Mortenson Ranch no longer has to use chemicals on the land or pesticides for the cattle. No area is grazed long enough for damage to the land to take place. Even manure disappears thanks to the dung beetles that take it back into the earth. Everything is returning to its natural balance.
As his dream of restoring the prairie began to take shape, Mortenson soon found that others were beginning to sit up and take notice. Suddenly biologists were finding themselves learning from the example of the isolated Lakota rancher. Documentaries have been done on the Mortenson Ranch Restoration, biologists and other experts now come to the ranch to study, observe and learn. Mortenson has received numerous honors and awards for his work and in 2003 he was even bestowed with an Honorary Doctorate Degree from South Dakota State University.
(Continued in Part Two)”
ARCHIVED
Gila
Well-known member
Another fact is that some of you people are experts at vilifying others and taking things out of context by putting words in my mouth. Yes I stated that TNC didn’t allow hunting IN MY AREA. Lucky you if you have been able to hunt TNC land. Just to be perfectly clear, here it is from the horses mouth:
Their Fur talkin to the Davos neighbors. Micro wave dishes hiding the windmills...hiding the,Shhhhhhhhhhhhh!
I was just on the Double H yesterday. Another bought out ranch I have access to part of ,for free.
I even peed on the ground.
I drive through thousands of acres of the GW every other day. I smile at the $25k elk hunters. They drive the elk to the public leases (half the ranch) and over the saddle to...me.
Just heard the 1st bull bugle this morning on my place, just now.
Oh and my place is private, in the E-Plus program and 3 other hunters are hunting on it this year, maybe 5 total. Not a dime has exchanged hands.
Their he goes agin...screaming now. In 'Merican.
Straight Arrow
Well-known member
From the tone of the article, your wife would be highly supportive of the accomplishments and vision of the American Prairie of Montana.
Once again your references seem to contradict your criticisms. Bison on the grasslands seems to be in concert with the Lakota Circle of Life.
Exposure to the AP conservation and protection of the landscape through a guided safari to raise funds to support the worthy effort equates to something really positive to most conservation minded folks. (Plus even my ten bucks as a "wealthy donor" staying at the Buffalo camp contributes.) What is the downside?
I can think of another church that owns a ton of western land. You can hunt some of it if you’re willing to pay enough. I wonder if they’re good or bad?
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